K Street Files: Gun Group Hires Elmendorf; Podesta Adds Staffer

The gun safety and gun control lobbying group Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence has brought on the well-connected Democratic firm Elmendorf Ryan, the organization announced.

“We could not be more excited to welcome Elmendorf Ryan and their team of experienced advocates to the Brady Campaign effort,” Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign, said in a statement. “President Obama has presented a comprehensive package of reforms, and so now the effort moves to Congress where we intend to fight hard to represent the millions of Americans asking for action.”

Gross noted in the release that firm founder Steve Elmendorf and partner Jimmy Ryan, a former senior aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., “are two of the most respected professionals in Washington and we are confident their team will help us to secure a legislative victory that will address the gun violence that destroys thousands of families each year.”

Elmendorf, a top Democratic fundraiser and strategist who once worked for former House Majority Leader Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, and his firm will be a counterpoint to entrenched players in the gun lobby, such as the National Rifle Association, which reports spending more on lobbying than groups such as Brady.

“For too long, the Congress has not taken action on sensible gun legislation that will protect thousand of families each year,” Elmendorf said in the announcement. “We could not be more proud to be part of this team and honored to be part of the effort to make real change happen.”

K Street Moves

The Podesta Group has nabbed GOPer Trey Hardin, as a principal in the shop’s public affairs practice.

“Trey’s two decades of experience on the front lines of political campaigns and in top positions on Capitol Hill, coupled with his track record of building winning advocacy campaigns for a wide range of corporate clients, will be instrumental in augmenting this growth,” the firm’s CEO Kimberley Fritts said in a press release.

Hardin got his start in the White House during the George Bush administration and worked on the Hill for then-Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., and then-Rep. Thomas M. Davis III, R-Va. He most recently was with the firm VOX Global.